Hi all,

I am new to WebFOCUS, could anyone explain me the naming convention for the 3 parts name.

for eg.,
JOIN EMPLOYEE.EMPLOYEE.DEPTNO IN EMPLOYEE TO UNIQUE DEPT.DEPT.DEPTNO IN DEPT AS J1 END

The same statement can be written as
JOIN DEPTNO IN EMPLOYEE TO UNIQUE DEPTNO IN DEPT AS J1 END


Please explain the difference between two statements.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kerry,

The three parts of the name are:

Part 1: The File Name (Master File)
Part 2: The Segment Name (Check out the Master File), FOCUS supports files with structures.
Part 3: The Field Name.

TexasStingray, your too quick.

Well, it depends on whether the masterfiles you are using are defined on a DBMS-based table, FOCUS databases (which may have segments), etc.

In general, one can reference a field using the convention:

Masterfile.Segment.Field

In most cases Masterfile has the same name as the Table it uses but it all depends on your environment.

I use WebFOCUS against Oracle tables and by default both the masterfile name and the segment use the same name as that of the table they are mapping, so ...

JOIN MYTABLE.MYTABLE.MYFIELD IN MYTABLE ...

Would have the same effect in my environment as:

JOIN MYFIELD IN MYTABLE

However, other data sources (VSAM, FOCUS Hold files, XFOCUS) introduce the concept of Segments and in that case it might be necessary to use the "long" notation in order to reach the field you need.

As with any new tool or technology it is more than recommended to get oneself acquainted with its foundations to better understand how to interact with it. I think some reading would be in place for you to better understand the concepts of WebFOCUS and something I would suggest would be:

1. Describing Data With WebFOCUS Language 7.6 (DN: 4500806.0509)
2. Creating Reports With WebFOCUS Language 7.6, Page 15 (Joining Data Sources) (DN: 4500804.0909)

You can find those documents in the Technical Documentation section at Information Builders website.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: njsden,

Waz, you are not any slow either

Thanks for the info.

In practice there is no difference between the two statements. In some cases, the fully qualified names (table.segment.column) may be necessary to avoid any ambiguity when two joined tables contain identically-named column names. The GUI tools usualy write fully qualified names, while developers who do their own coding tend to use the syntax requiring the fewest number of keystrokes.

quote:

while developers who do their own coding tend to use the syntax requiring the fewest number of keystrokes

You're absolutely right. I addition, going over such a verbose code as the one generated by the GUI is rather annoying and a bit harder to understand (at least for me anyway).